


Closer to You (Your Simple Smile)

by iktwabrokenbone (apiculteur)



Category: Bandom, Fall Out Boy, Twenty One Pilots
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Fluff, M/M, Перевод на русский | Translation in Russian
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-02
Updated: 2014-09-02
Packaged: 2018-02-15 19:44:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,694
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2241144
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/apiculteur/pseuds/iktwabrokenbone
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tyler works in a coffee shop, Josh is a cute customer, and Pete flirts too much with Patrick.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Closer to You (Your Simple Smile)

**Author's Note:**

> i kinda accidentally got into the dixie chicks writing this?
> 
> title from cowboy take me away by the dixie chicks
> 
> edit: translation available in [](http://ficbook.net/readfic/5094391>%D1%80%D1%83%CC%81%D1%81%D1%81%D0%BA%D0%B8%D0%B9</a>!!%20thank%20u!!)

It was a quiet day, and the only other person in the shop was Pete, so Tyler allowed himself to put on the Dixie Chicks and sing along. It was something he enjoyed doing, but only actually did when the shop was empty. He got enough complaints from Pete when he sang along with only the two of them in the shop, and he was bad enough at the job that Pete would be completely justified in firing him, so he didn't push his luck by putting on the Dixie Chicks when the shop was busy.

After the last note of 'I Can Love You Better', he heard someone speak. He jumped, making an undignified squeaking noise and dropping the mug he had been washing into the soapy water.

"Do you take requests?" a man asked.

He turned around, because he felt rude and uncomfortable facing away, and smiled at the guy. He was _cute_. "Uh, yeah," Tyler said, which wasn't a lie, really. Pete quite often put in requests, though it was more hopeless begging- "Dude, please stop with the Dixie Chicks." On rare occasions, he even did what Pete asked, only in part because Pete was the source of his income.

The guy smiled back at him. "Uh, 'Goodbye Earl'?" he asked, and Tyler nodded.

"Yeah, cool," Tyler said, and had to remind himself that this was a _coffee_ shop. "Do you want a drink with that?"

The guy looked surprised, as though he had forgotten where he was. "Oh! Sure, a mocha, please. To take out," he said.

Tyler skipped through the tracks on his iPod until he found 'Goodbye Earl', and sang along with it as he made the guy's coffee. When he handed it over, the guy hesitated before saying, "I'm Josh, by the way."

"I'm Tyler," he said.

Josh glanced down at Tyler's chest. "Yeah, it says on your name tag," he said, lips quirked.

"Yeah," Tyler said, because he was an idiot, and really didn't know what else to say. Josh just smiled as he walked away.

Pete slid up to stand beside him. "Nice flirting, Tyler," he said. "You'll get yourself a man in no time."

Tyler blushed and hit him one the shoulder. "Shut up, Pete. Like you're better," he said.

***

Pete was standing in front of Tyler, leaning over the counter to talk to one of their regulars, Patrick. As always, Pete didn't really have a reason to be there, as he refused to help make coffee, but as the owner of the shop, he didn't need a reason to get in Tyler's way and flirt loudly with customers. Or maybe it was more _at_ Patrick, because the poor guy was just standing there, blushing, and mumbling 'thank you's as he pulled his hat further down.

Tyler was actually friends with Patrick- he hadn't told Pete, because Pete would undoubtedly want his number, and pester Tyler until he got it- and he knew that Patrick genuinely _liked_ Pete, he just got nervous around him. The whole bouncy-puppy attitude Pete surrounded himself with had that effect on people. He wondered if Pete would ever stop telling him how cute he was, how amazing at guitar and singing he was, and just ask him out. He was tempted to start a betting pool with Gabe and a couple of the other regulars, but he would probably only end up losing all his money to Gabe, somehow.

Eventually, he sighed and put on some Celine Dion, absently singing along with it. He didn't think Pete would really notice, not with Patrick there, blushing and occasionally getting up the nerve to make a joke or two, which only further encouraged him.

He heard the door open, then swing shut, but it took him a couple seconds to register that there must be a customer coming in. He stopped singing, straightened himself up and tried to pretend to be a professional barista.

"Dude, don't stop," the person said, and he grinned when he realised who it was. It was Josh, the cute guy from yesterday.

"Do you want a drink?" Tyler asked.

"Yeah, mocha. To take out," he said, and Tyler nodded, began to sing again as he made it. He heard Pete whispering loudly to Patrick as he did so, and heard 'nerdy crush' in there somewhere. When Tyler looked at him, he immediately looked away, pretending he hadn't been staring at him. Patrick met his eyes, looking like he wanted to apologise for Pete's existence, on behalf of Mr. and Mrs. Wentz. Tyler often felt the same way.

He just ignored the way Pete kept on quickly snapping his head to look in the other direction, always a second too late, and finished making the coffee. "Here you go," Tyler said, smiling at Josh and trying not to blush. It was so much more difficult to pretend he didn't have a crush on him when everyone in the room seemed aware of it.

"Thanks," Josh said, and _damn_ , he looked so adorable when the corners of his eyes creased with the force of his joy. He handed over the cash and left.

When the door shut behind him, Pete looked at him. "How often do you undercharge people?" he asked, and Tyler realised he had asked for a dollar less than he had supposed to. Pete sighed. "We could probably make double the money if you weren't so bad at the job."

"Sorry," Tyler mumbled, an Pete rolled his eyes.

"Doesn't matter," he said, and Tyler could tell from his smile what they were going to be talking about next.

He looked to Patrick for help- he could use his fedora powers to save him- but he saw the same expression on his face. "Why don't you ask him out?" he asked, and Tyler made a small whining sound.

"Guys, shut up," he said, glaring at Patrick. He had been betrayed. Pete and Patrick had joined forces to tease him about his crush. It wasn't even a real crush. He just thought the guy was cute. It wasn't like he actually knew much about him apart from 'cute, likes mochas, the Dixie Chicks, and possibly Celine Dion'.

"No, seriously, bro," Pete said. "He totally likes you. You should date him."

Tyler looked at Patrick, tried to get across his helplessness one last time, a plea to his humanity. Patrick had no humanity, as he just smiled at him. "Pete's right. Ask him out."

"Pete's never right."

"Hey! I'm your boss," Pete complained.

Patrick ignored Pete. "He's right this time," he said, shrugging.

Tyler shook his head. "I'm not going to ask him out. Wouldn't that be unprofessional?"

"Why wouldn't it be professional to ask out a customer?" Pete asked.

"I'm still not asking him out."

Patrick sighed, and Pete pouted.

***

Once again, Pete was 'dropping in to check on his worker'. Tyler was pretty sure he never checked on his other workers so often. Then again, being as small a coffee shop as it was, they rarely ever had more than one person working at a time, so he hardly got to speak to his co-workers. Maybe they had to suffer through his presence just as much. For their sake, he hoped not.

Pete was perched on the counter, concentrating on Tyler as he cleaned the tables. "Why won't you ask Josh out?" he asked.

"Is that what you've been looking so intense about? Me not dating some guy I have a crush on?" It was worrying, in a way, how much he seemed to find thinking a struggle.

Pete huffed. "Not just that, but yeah."

"I don't know," he said. He did know. He didn't want Josh to say no, so he didn't give him a chance to say no. "Why don't you ask out Patrick?"

At that, Pete slipped back into his mind, seeming to once again be thinking hard about something. Tyler continued to clean tables, not bothered that it took Pete quite a few minutes to say anything else.

"If you ask out Josh, I'll ask out Patrick," Pete announced, looking proud of this idea of his.

Tyler tried to pretend to not be shocked. "You'll ask out Patrick?" he asked. If nothing else, he was good at repeating things in a slightly surprised and confused voice.

"If you ask out Josh, I will."

Against his better judgement, Tyler nodded. "Okay."

Pete grinned.

***

Tyler wasn't sure if it was just a coincidence, but each time Josh had came into the shop, he had been the only other customer (Patrick hardly counted as a customer anymore, he hardly ever actually payed, thanks to Pete). In any case, it meant that Tyler was able to sing for him when he came in.

"Uh, can I request a song? And a mocha?" he asked, with a seemingly permanent smile.

Tyler tried to discreetly take a deep breath, preparing himself to ask Josh out. "If I can request something from you?" he said. It came out as a question, and he sounded a lot more freaked out than he wished he did, but he ignored that to the best of his abilities.

Josh looked curious. "Yeah?"

"Will you date me?" he asked, and sort of died inside, because he had pretty much shouted that into a near-empty room, and Josh looked liked he was holding back laughter. At least he was being polite about it.

"Yeah, I was hoping you'd ask," he said. "And can you just sing anything by the Dixie Chicks?"

Tyler nodded, and he was blushing, but not as much as he might've been if Josh had turned him down. "Yeah. Cool."

He sang 'Cowboy Take Me Away', and Josh grinned at him when he handed over the drink, his number scrawled on the side in sharpie. He was pretty sure he had charged wrong, because he usually did, but he didn't care, because his heart was still pounding and he was still grinning too wide. He waited until Josh was gone before calling Pete.

"You'd better ask out Patrick, right now," he said, and Pete's laugh was cut off by Tyler hanging up.

**Author's Note:**

> thanks for reading w/e this is. kudos and comments would be cool.


End file.
